Opportunities
This section advertises any vacancies that are open at the Cambridge Centre for Animal Rights Law and informs about other opportunities how to get involved with our work.
Visiting Fellow and Researcher programmes
The Centre operates Visiting Fellow and Visiting Researcher programmes to allow academics and practitioners to come to Cambridge to conduct their research, participate in events such as the Talking Animals, Law & Philosophy series, as well as to collaborate informally with members of the Centre and the University more broadly. A list of current and former Visiting Fellows and Visiting Researchers can be found here.
Call for applications Visiting Researchers and Visiting Fellows 2026 (open)
The Cambridge Centre for Animal Rights Law invites applications for Visiting Researchers and Visiting Fellows to the Centre for a research visit in Spring 2026. The purpose of these programmes is to enable researchers to work on a research project (usually in the form of an academic paper) which will be ready for publication shortly after their visit. Applicants need to have a clearly developed proposal.
Applicants for the Visiting Researcher positions must either be in the course of completing a PhD or have completed a PhD no more than five years before 20 January 2026 (based on the date the degree was awarded). Applicants for the Visiting Fellowship positions must have a distinguished record of research or professional experience in the field, and be internationally recognised for their work.
Visiting Researchers are expected to visit the Centre for the 8-week Cambridge University Lent Term 2026 (20 January to 20 March 2026). Visiting Fellows are expected to visit the Centre for a period of between 4 and 8 weeks during Cambridge University Lent Term.
Our Visiting Researcher and Visiting Fellows programmes offer an exciting opportunity to become part of our Centre’s lively community. Visiting Researchers and Visiting Fellows will present and discuss their work in the Talking Animals, Law & Philosophy series and in our Visitors’ Workshop, and will have the opportunity to receive expert supervisions from senior academics (Visiting Researchers) or provide such supervisions to junior academics (Visiting Fellows). There will also be numerous other academic talks, weekly lunches, as well as other events and opportunities to connect with likeminded thinkers. We expect Visiting Researchers and Visiting Fellows to actively participate in all these events. For this purpose, they are required to live in Cambridge, and they must be substantially in Cambridge in person for the duration of their visit.
Funds of up to £2,000 ppn are available for Visiting Researchers and Visiting Fellows to contribute towards accommodation and travel expenses. Extra funding is available for candidates who can provide evidence that they would otherwise not be able to take up the position.
Applications should be sent by e-mail to Dr Carolina Leiva Ilabaca at carolina@animalrightslaw.org. The deadline for applications is 30 April 2025. Applicants should send the following materials as a PDF file: a CV with a list of publications, the names and contact details of two referees, and a 2-page outline of the research project that they will be submitting for publication at the end of or shortly after their research stay. Zoom interviews will be conducted with shortlisted candidates in May.
The Cambridge Centre for Animal Rights Law is an academic charity dedicated to the study of fundamental rights for non-human animals. We are interested in candidates who explore research questions in this area. This includes, but is not limited to, candidates investigating whether animals would cease to be property, whether and which type of legal personhood they would have, what fundamental rights they might possess (and why), whether they should be given other protections, such as protections of their dignity, or what other approaches might be possible. We are also open to applications from researchers approaching related questions from other disciplines than law.
In case you have questions about the positions, please contact Dr Leiva Ilabaca at carolina@animalrightslaw.org.
To download this call as a PDF file click here.
More opportunities
Ways to get involved as a student
Dr Sean Butler and Dr Raffael Fasel teach the course ‘Animal Rights Law’, which is offered in Part II (year 3) of the Cambridge BA in Law. You can take this course if you are a student in the BA programme or any other programme within the University of Cambridge. This course is not open to students outside the University. Students from outside the University are however welcome to participate in all our other events and online talks, lectures, and workshops.